Hibernia through the centuries

The representation of Ireland as female can be dated to some of the earliest manuscript sources and the flowering of writing on the island. Although scant, the early-Christian sources mention the 'Feis Temro', or Feast of Tara, a fertility rite in which powerful kings symbolically 'married' the land.
However, because of its pagan elements, it was frowned upon by Christian clerics and the last recorded staging of the event was in 560 AD during the reign of Diarmait mac Cerbail, king of Tara.

Dublin city is dotted with several sculptures of the female personification of Ireland as Hibernia, with her signature symbol, the harp. One such sculpture, from the tympanum of James Gandon's Customs House, represents co-operation between Ireland and Britain through the embrace of Hibernia and Britannia. It is a projection of the ruling elite's idealistic image of the relationship between the two countries in the late 18th century.

As the 18th century gave way to the 19th and the last vestiges of the Penal Laws were dismantled, Roman Catholics came to wield considerable power at local and national level. They too used the figure of Hibernia to express their experiences and aspirations on buildings and monuments in Dublin.

The best example is on the drum of John Henry Foley's O'Connell monument commemorating the achievements of Daniel O'Connell. It can be seen (pictured left) with Hibernia holding the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, while she tramples the chains of oppression. It was unveiled with spectacular fanfare on Sackville Street (O'Connell Street) in 1882.

Those that were supportive of the British Empire and the union between Ireland and Britain continued to cast Hibernia to promote these ends. Following Queen Victoria's visit to Ireland in 1900, and her subsequent death the following year, the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) raised considerable funds to erect a commemorative monument.

The result was John Hughes' Victoria monument which was unveiled outside Leinster House, the headquarters of the RDS in 1908.

The monument was adorned by three supporting sculptures, two of which depicted 'Hibernia at war' and 'Hibernia at peace'. 'Hibernia at war', also known as 'Hibernia and the dying soldier', illustrates the final moments of an Irish soldier dying from wounds received in the service of the British Army during the Boer War (1899-1902). (See image bottom left).

Following the dismantling and removal of the statue in 1948, 'Hibernia at war' finally came to rest in the grounds of Dublin Castle where it remains to this day. Queen Victoria took a somewhat longer voyage and finally came to rest outside the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney, Australia.

William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory were vociferous opponents of Queen Victoria's visit in 1900 as they regarded it as a cynical move by the British authorities to bolster flagging recruitment for the Boer War in Ireland. Yeats and Lady Gregory were key players in the Gaelic League and collaborated to write the play Caitilin Ni Houlihan. 

Caitlin Ni Houlihan, the play's principal character, is an allegorical representation of the Irish nation -- a Hibernia type figure cast from the mold of Roisin Dubh -- who requires young men to take up arms and aid in "putting the strangers out of [her] house". It romanticized militant separatism and was considerably influential in nationalist circles.

To people of a certain vintage, the most well-known  representation of Ireland as a woman is Sir John Lavery's 'Portrait of Lady Lavery as Caitilin Ni Houlihan', on display at the National Gallery of Ireland. The reason that this image is so familiar is that a likeness of Lady Lavery's image in the portrait was used in a series of banknotes issued by the Central Bank between 1927 and 1977.

Cuchulainn, the warrior par-excellence in Irish mythology, was idolized by Patrick Pearse so the General Post Office (GPO), the headquarters of the 1916 Rising, seemed an appropriate to erect a statue of the hero.

This was certainly the view of Eamonn de Valera who arranged for Oliver Sheppard's bronze casting to be installed there in 1935. It is interesting to note the juxtaposition of the Cuchulainn statue on the ground floor with that of Hibernia directly above it standing on top of the tympanum.

This created an association between the female representation of Ireland and the sacrificial warrior and it is unlikely that the symbolism went unnoticed by Yeats.

Some of Yeats' last works reflect on aspects of the 1916 Rising. In Man and the Echo, he muses, "Did that play of mine send out certain men the English shot?" and in The Statues, he asks "When Pearse summoned Cuchulainn to his side, what stalked through the Post Office?"

 Pictures: From top. Britannia and Hibernia embrace at the tympanum of the Customs House; Hibernia tramples the chains of oppression at the O'Connell monument; 'Hibernia and the Dying Soldier' at Dublin Castle; Oliver Sheppard's statue of Cuchulainn at the General Post Office; Hibernia on the tympanum on the top of the GPO.